Social interactions and recommendations like +1s on GooglePlus, Facebook likes, etc. are called social signals.
Social signals impact search engine rankings and Google has been tracking social signals as part of its ranking algorithm since late 2010.
Note: Google encourages website owners to build their brand on social media as a long-term investment to drive qualified traffic, instead of aiming for short-term benefits like search ranking placement. Google’s own head of the web spam team Matt Cutts has stated that Google takes a cautious approach when it comes to social media, as social trends and relationships tend to change too quickly to fully map out. Without a perfect ‘map,’ Google is understandably reticent to assign more importance to the social sphere over other aspects of their search algorithm. In short, Google’s strategy is a sensible one - “wait and see” how things develop over time, as sites that provide true value normally develop longevity, trust and authority, and these are the websites that Google naturally wants to rank higher in its search engine listings.
Social Signals – Which Social Media Sites Matter?
Social sites that search engines like Google and Bing look to for measuring social signals include:
With almost 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most influential social community on the planet. Research shows that a single post on Facebook can reach up to 150,000 users, so even if it seems like Facebook is not driving droves of customers to your website, you should not be quick to dismiss the importance of Facebook in your online business strategy, as Google processes data and information from Facebook when determining your search rankings. In fact, research shows that Facebook seems influence search engine rankings more than other social media sites, like Twitter orGooglePlus.
(Number of monthly active Facebook users. Source: Statista.com)
After Facebook, Twitter is the second largest social media site in the world, with over 500 million tweets sent out every day. Twitter plays a significant role as a global influencer online and places great importance on tweeting posts that provide great value to readers over the amount of tweets sent …
(Over 500 million tweets are sent each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
Google+
Google’s own social site naturally carries great authority online, even if it has not reached the same level of growth and take up as Facebook and Twitter.
(More people are actively using GooglePlus each day. Source: InternetLiveStats.com)
In addition to the big 3 listed above, there are a number of other social media networks that should not be ignored, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon,Reddit, and Digg.
(A number of social media sites provide important signals that could affect your search engine rankings)
Social Signals – Which Ones Should You Be Paying Attention To?
Search engines track various social signals, including:
- Facebook – e.g. how many Facebook comments, likes, and shares a person has, growth rate of likes and shares, etc.
- Twitter – e.g. tweets and retweets, the authority of the person tweeting, trending topics, etc.
- Google+ – e.g. who is following you (high profile users), how many people follow you, number of adds and shares, etc.
- Other sites – e.g. number of Pins and re-Pins on Pinterest, comments on Reddit, etc.
- Other signals – In addition to the above, there are other not so obvious social media-related factors that can indirectly influence search rankings and traffic. These include positive and undesirable factors, such as age and authority of your social media account [positive], and whether your site is deemed to be of poor quality by other users [negative].
As a business owner, it’s not only important to find ways to develop your presence on major social networking websites, but also to be able to track, measure and analyze social campaigns in order to improve your business results.
(Use social media marketing to help improve your results online)
Social media monitoring allows you to find insights into what people are saying about your services, company, or brand on social media, measure the impact of campaigns, identify market opportunities, avert crises, and assess competitor activity and market dominance. Additionally, social media monitoring can also provide you with vital information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about specific businesses, products, topics, or brands.
As a business intelligence tool, social monitoring is invaluable. Using social media monitoring as a form of business intelligence, however, is a complex undertaking, typically carried out by various people including marketing professionals, online reputation management companies, market researchers, social engagement and community staff, social media marketing agencies, and sales teams. Typically, small businesses don’t have the budget to pay social media monitoring professionals to continually track their coverage in the and actively monitor their online reputation.
Fortunately a number of service providers have created a range of affordable and even free tools that facilitate the active monitoring of a variety of social media channels, allowing you to identify consumer behavior around your products or brand so you can respond proactively to conversations and interact with online users in various social media platforms.
We have written a detailed article listing a number of social media measurement tools and technologies that are worth knowing about. More information:
(Can you monitor your social signals effectively?)
In this article, we look at a simple WordPress plugin for monitoring social signals and increasing your social media influence.
Presenting …
Social Metrics Pro – Social Media Analytics Plugin For WordPress
Plugin Description
SocialMetricsPro is an easy-to-install social analytics premium WordPress plugin that is designed to help users increase their social media influence in an uncomplicated way. It is built on a simple premise – SocialMetricsPro tracks and measures how each signal is performing and displays either a red or green indicator. The site owner’s task is simple … change all the red squares into greens.
(Social Metrics Pro provides a standard operating procedure that any user can follow … simply turn reds into greens!)
Colors indicate relative popularity. Posts with the highest number of shares are colored green. Posts with low social media activity show up amber or red.
The plugin developers tested SocialMetricsPro on a network of 2,000+ sites over a period of three months. During this period, all they focused on was turning the “reds” to “greens” and then keeping their metrics on “green”. According to the plugin developers, they were able to notice a 360% improvement in traffic for their top 10 performing sites, 410% more keywords ranked in the first page of Google and they also experienced a 310% increase in revenues.
(According to the plugin developers, improving your social media marketing can positively can have a positive effect on your search engine rankings, web traffic and revenue!)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Benefits Of Using SocialMetricsPro
Below are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using SocialMetricsPro to track Tweets, Likes, +1s, Pins and more right from your WP Dashboard on your web site:
Installation Is Easy
SocialMetricsPro is very easy to install. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin to your Plugins folder via your administrator account and activate.
Really Simple To Use
As mentioned earlier, the user’s task is to change all the red squares into greens. Social Metrics Pro tracks and measures social media signals so you know where to invest more effort and which ones need to be better optimized.
Track Only Social Signals From The Networks You Care About
SocialMetricsPro lets you track and monitor social media activity across leading networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Digg, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest directly from your WordPress dashboard.
SocialMetricsPro helps you get answers to questions like:
- Which social media networks work best for my site?
- Which posts are performing the best on these social networks?
- Which of my posts are the most popular on social media?
- And more …
With Social Metrics Pro, all this information is available on-demand, with just one click.
(SocialMetricsPro constantly monitors social signals from the social media sites that you care most about!)
Plugin Features
Social Metrics Pro provides many features to WP users. Here are just some of these features:
- Quick and easy to install and configure. Be up and running in no time.
- Widgets & Extensions Ready. You can extend the plugin’s functionality using external and built-in widgets. View the latest stats from your WordPress admin bar, add social content to your sidebar or anywhere in your site using widgets.
- One-click auto-update functionality. Update Social Metrics Pro with one click via the WordPress Updates page, or update it manually. You can also opt to receive an email notification when new versions are released.
- Plugin uses minimal resources. Reporting is in seconds, using little server resources. Reports also include the amount of time it took to retrieve the information and the server memory used to gather and compile the data.
Additional plugin features include:
- Sort, Search And Filter Features: Social Metrics Pro lets you sort and filter the information as you like. You can perform keyword searches to study topic-related posts, and even filter the results by post type, post authors, category, or by publishing date.
- Export Data To Excel: You can export and plot filtered data and custom queries in Excel for further analysis. Data can be exported in tab-delimited and comma-separated file formats, and imported to the spreadsheet application of your choice.
(Social Metrics Pro is really simple to use … just turn more reds into greens!)
User Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials and comments that users have provided for the Social Metrics Pro plugin:
”As with any cool plugin, it solves a very simple problem – how to view how well your WordPress posts are being promoted.” Adam Small, Marketing Tech Blog
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”Social Metrics is one of the recipes for Social WordPress. You can integrate it quickly and easily on your WordPress site to view your performance on social networks” Jean-Francois Arseneault, Arseneault Consultation
Product Tips
SocialMetricsPro comes with a step-by-step guide showing you how to optimize your site for social media success (i.e. turn reds into greens).
Product Support
Social Metrics Pro is well-supported, and comes with free support and free lifetime updates, backed by a no-risk, sixty-day, 100% refund guarantee.
Product Price
SocialMetricsPro plugin is available in two editions:
- Single Site License – This enables you to install Social Metrics Pro on a single domain. Includes free lifetime updates and free support. Price = $27.00 (one-time).
- Multiple Sites Edition – This option lets you set up SocialMetricsPro on unlimited web sites that you own. Price includes free lifetime upgrades and free support. Cost = $47.00 (one-time).
Please Note: Current pricing for the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price at the time this content was published. This may not be the actual pricing charged by the software developer when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the latest pricing details here:
Additional Information
SocialMetricsPro requires a self-hosted installation of WordPress and can be instantly downloaded after purchase.
Install The Product
As mentioned earlier, with the increase in importance of social sites like Twitter and Facebook, search engines like Bing and Google now take into account a range of social signals when determining website ranking.
No website owner can afford to ignore how important social media is to their online success. Social Metrics Pro solves the problem of how to find a simple, time-saving solution that gives website owners instant feedback on the success of their social media marketing strategy and shows them how to direct their efforts in order to improve their results.
Social Metrics Pro is ideal for beginners and advanced users alike. It tracks Tweets, Likes, Pins, +1s and more directly from your WP admin area.
We recommend getting SocialMetricsPro if you own or manage WordPress sites and would like to shave years off your social media marketing learning curve.
For full details, visit the plugin website here: SocialMetricsPro – Social Analytics For WordPress
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